5 Tips to Prepare for the coming 2020 Argentine Crisis

This is the English version of a video I did for my Spanish Channel in youtube.

People in Argentina are worried because Cristina Kirchner is, against all odds, likely to regain power in 2020. She leads in the primaries by 20 points and people are already talking about her return. And many are worried.

These are the five tips I go over in the video.

1)Arm yourself and get training. Most people reading this blog are already well armed but in South America it’s not as common as in USA. Buy a good, reliable weapon and get the training you need to use it properly. My advice is to go with a good old boring Glock 17. The thing just works. For those that don’t fancy firearms much, go with a 357 magnum revolver with a 4” barrel. Load it with 38 at first, 357 once you are used to it. Its just 6 shots but for people with more limited training it’s the kind of handgun that is far less likely to suffer user-caused malfunctions. An AR rifle is an affordable and well known platform to complete the battery, especially for those living in the country or in larger residences.

2)Food and water. You don’t need to go with fancy prepper food. Rice, beans, dry pasta, canned vegetables and tuna. Have at least a week worth of water, a gallon per person per day.

3) Emergency funds. Start with cash for a rainy day. Build that up until you have a months’ worth of expenses. Cash is still very much king when SHTF, even during financial downturns. Expand and procure some precious metals. Look into Bitcoin, it has several advantages for economic collapses and people in Venezuela, Argentina and African countries have used bitcoin as their local currencies failed.If you want to give it a try, Coinbase is by far the largest and safest company to get some bitcoin from. Using my affiliate link ( https://www.coinbase.com/join/fernan_t2 ) for a first time buyer if you buy 100 USD you get 10% more, meaning 110USD worth of bitcoin and I get a 10 USD commission as well (thanks!). You also get a bitcoin wallet which you can safely use from your phone to buy and sell bitcoin and other currencies, send and receive crypto currency safely. Don’t put anything you can’t afford to lose into crypto but definitely give it a try.

4) Batteries, solar chargers and good flashlights. Rolling blackouts are very likely to return with the new government.

5) Passports, second citizenships and a plan to get the hell out of there if all hell breaks loose. I’ve talked about second citizenships a lot and cant emphasize the importance of having it. Look into your family tree and if you can get one through any means, by God do it! It is probably the best advice I could ever give you. Even if you never plan on using it, you just never know what could happen five, ten, let alone twenty years from now or more and citizenship is something you can pass down to your kids.

Take care folks.

FerFAL

Check out my new Book “Street Survival Skills” . Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”

What’s the current situation in Argentina like?

Just got back from BA, Bariloche, and Villa Carlos Paz near Cordoba (visited for the holidays; my wife grew up in Barrio Norte, across the street from the Israeli Embassy the Iranians leveled. She lived there in the 70's and 80's). However, we were last there back in December, 2001. Yep - fleeing tear gas and rioters pushing a pram not from the Obelisk.

But, Retiro is now....horrible. And, never in my life did I think I'd be stepping over homeless people in BA in the better areas. Many of the people we spoke too said things feel much like 2000, but with differences, because nobody really is all that eager to jump back in bed with the leftists.

What's your latest read on Argentina...or would you mind directing me to further reading or reports on the situation?
Interesting though, because this time as with the last in the outer areas such as Bariloche it was as happy as could be, though everybody was certainly watching the value of the peso quite intently.

-Greg

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Hi Greg, thanks for your message.

Unfortunately you don’t fix 60 years of Peronism with four years of President Mauricio Macri.
The poverty, the corruption, the disastrous economy and weak industry, the collapsed infrastructure and education, its endemic and wont change overnight. Peronist populism also survives in the Argentinean political field like an infection, a spreading rot that never quite goes away.
My read on Argentina is still very much the same, unfortunately. You see, although 2001 was the time in which the country collapsed, socially, economically and politically, what came after that was far worse. The leftists Kirchner scum that took over was a complete nightmare straight out of the 70’s.

They reinvented themselves as romantic revolutionary socialists. The truth though is quite different.
Nestor and Cristina Kirchner, they started with a law firm. They worked for banks and financial groups which filed foreclosures, since the Central Bank's 1050 ruling had raised mortgage loan interest rates. Through political contacts and bribes, they also acquired 21 real-estate lots for a low price when they were about to be auctioned. Their law firm defended military personnel accused of committing human right crimes during the “Dirty War”.
But being the clever criminals they were, they understood the power of the left, the socialist and social justice speech they saw in their youth.

All of a sudden they reinvented themselves not as a greedy, shady law firm turned politician, kicking poor people out of their homes and defending military personnel accused of torturing civilians. Now, according to them, they were practically Che Guevara with a rifle in their hands fighting the imperialist Americans.

As laughable as that sounds for the people that knew them for what they were back in the day, it sounded good and people ate that up. You had the real commies from back in the day, beaten like street dogs all of a sudden being vindicated. Support from “Madres de Plaza de Mayo” gave them international legitimacy, siding with the mothers of those killed during the Junta. Of course we wont talk about those that faked their deaths only to later be found alive in Spain, or those that had been killed in gunfights with the police, or the ones that died while planting bombs to kill innocent civilians. They were all freedom fighting heroes now, all of them. And all the police, the armed forces, they were all nazi pig dictators.

That’s what an entire generation was brought up to believe. The mugger, the criminal robbing at gunpoint, he’s a poor victim of the evil American capitalist system. The politician that steals millions? He’s stealing for the crown, for comrade Cristina and comrade Nestor, and they need money to fight the evil capitalists.

This madness, I kid you not, is very real. And it only got worse year after year with increasing indoctrination in schools, TV and other media, even cartoons for kids had this message.
The damage was very real and it doesn’t just go away because the dictators finally leave.
Kid, children, education, schools and the agenda in Universities. That’s where it’s at, and these scumbags knew that. After 12 years of constant indoctrination the damage is generational. You have an entire generation of young adults that today believe Cristina Kirchner is a saviour. There’s some older fools that believe Peron was their saviour too.

Of course, you also have hundreds of thousands that got used to stealing through the government. Getting paid for doing nothing. You have generations of poor welfare soldiers that make a living out of going to protest and marches and shouting “Cristina! Cristina!” or insulting the current President, Mauricio Macri. And of course there are thousands of millionaire politicians. Drugs, bribes, police corruption, anything goes. Even a lousy local small time politician can make a fortune.
As things stand today, nearly half the country would STILL vote for Cristina Kirchner. There’s no hope for people that are either that corrupt or that stupid.

Finally voting for President Mauricio Macri, that was a big first step. But now he needs to be re-elected. After him, another honest politician needs to become president. Maybe Maria Eugenia Vidal. If that happens and that woman gets re-elected, then maybe Argentina can actually become a 1^st world country like its supposed to be.

But as things stand today, Cristina Kirchner could be president again this year. If that happens, Argentina will be taking giant leaps backwards. Back to the old ways, closer to becoming another Venezuela.
FerFAL

Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”

ReadyMan Interview and some thoughts on defense when SHTF

Argentina Currency Crisis: Whats going on? why? what to expect?

What the hell happened to Argentina?

I've been told that the 20th century was a "lost century" for Argentina, it began the century as one of the richest and most developed countries in the world. But by the end of the century, it regressed into what could be described as a third-world shithole.
But why such an extreme regression occur?  Did Peron and the military coups play a major role in this?
Also, another thing I've been wondering is why Argentina doesn't have such a bad reputation for being violent/corrupt like Mexico, Brazil, and so many other countries in Latin America. I considered Argentina to be the "good part of South America" (a common belief among many Americans) until I started to read your and a few other experiences of living in Argentina, which have massively flipped my opinions of the country.
And on an unrelated note: do you have any experiences with the Galil/Galil ACE rifles, and if you did, what is your opinion of those rifles?
-Scott
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Hello Scott,
What happened in Argentina? Man, if we only knew.
An (energy) nuclear power already in the 70’s, an education system that was the envy of our neighbours, relatively low population with no ethnic or religious divide. Even today after everything that happened, it’s a country that produces enough food to feed its population ten times over. And yet you have 30% poverty and thousands of kids go to bed hungry every day, thousands still eating out of the garbage.

Argentina has a very serious crime and violence problem. Its something people live with every day and it’s the main reason why I ultimately left Argentina. For millions they just don’t know any better. I do. I’ve lived in other countries, I had lived in USA and from an early age I knew there are other ways in which people live. I knew that what was going on in my country was not “normal” and hell no, it does NOT “happen in every big city”.  Right now with President Mauricio Macri there’s hope, but the change the country needs will take decades. You ask about Mexico and Brazil. These two would be countries in which violent crime is even worse than Argentina so they do have a rightfully earned poor reputation in that regard. I wouldn’t live in those two countries either.

Indeed, the military coups shattered the democratic order and that did terrible damage.  But Juan Domingo Perón was the ruin of Argentina and “Peronism” still is even today. What is “Peronism” you may ask. Is it socialism? is it the left? No wait! It’s the right then, the right is to blame? That’s an American way of thinking. I love you guys but when it comes to politics your bipartisan nature betrays you into thinking it has to be one or the other.

Peronism has been both. It’s been far right with peronist president Carlos Menem who famously said “Nothing that belongs to the State will stay in the hands of the State” and went on a privatisation spree, sold the most valuable assets the country had to companies that pillaged them like a fox in a henhouse. He pegged the Peso to the US Dollar and destroyed the national industry. And then we had Nestor and Cristina Kirchner, self-claimed leftists revolutionaries who were in fact working for banks during the Junta, making sure people lost their homes so they could buy them for pennies when they went up for auction (the kind of auction no one else can bid in). Then they got into politics and saw how good that could be for business. The Kirchners saw in the Venezuela the model that would give them absolute power and that’s what they tried to turn the country into. So if its not right and if its not left, what is Peronism?

Peronism is populism. It is pure demagogy, claiming to represent the poor, the needy, the abandoned and disenchanted, the “people,” but both using and feeding the ignorance and resentment of the mob to ensure its power over the population.

It’s the kind of controlled mass behaviour that allows you to be both far right and far left or whatever else you feel like being at any given time because the mob will not question any of it, because with populism there’s no reason, no critical thinking, the fanatic crowd just follows the leader and anyone that criticises or even just questions the movement becomes an enemy. Not a political adversary, but an enemy. As Peron said, “for my friends, everything. For my enemies, not even justice”. This is something Peronists believed in. They think that the law is just a tool to be used when convenient but it doesn’t really apply to them.

Populists are essentially corrupt and evil because they can only exist in an environment of ignorance and resentment. They need to ensure an enemy-friend dichotomy. Enemies of course need to be destroyed by any and all means and friends need to remain loyal, weak and submissive, so that they adore the hand that feeds them. This is why Peronists, like all other populist movements, they need to ensure a poor and most of all ignorant population. In 30 years of nearly continuous Peronist/populist government in Argentina, the party that was supposed to represent the poor, hard working class, only made sure poverty never stopped growing in the country.

Anyway, that’s what happened in Argentina and this is why in spite of the good president we now have we need another 10 or 20 years for an entire generation of people to know something other than populism and corruption as a way of life.

As for the Galil I know there’s people that like them and there’s nothing wrong with them as fun guns. Personally I like other designs better, certainly not a fan of bullpups myself, and for practical use you may want guns that are more commonly available. Think about accessories, spare parts and such.
Regards,
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”

“Dad, it hurts”

Last night in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 28 year old Martín Bustamante was walking with his 3 year old son Agustin to buy a pizza for dinner. It was 9pm when two scumbags robbed them. After taking their money they started walking away, but one of them turned back one last time and shot the 3 year old that was still holding his dad’s hand in the back. He smiled as he shot the 3 year old, his father would later say.

Agustin only managed to say “dad, it hurts” before dying in his dad’s arms who was rushing him to a hospital. The loot? 15 USd for a pizza and a cheap cellphone. The killers? 14 and 16 years old.
This happened in my neighbourhood where I lived most of my life, in Lomas de Zamora.
This is why I left my country, because you just can’t live like this. Because that could have been my son and once your son is dead then it’s just too damn late to take action.

Now people are pissed, a family has been destroyed. There will be a protest tonight, and people will speak on tv, and those 14 and 16 year old scumbags will walk because the idiotic Argentine laws protected them and the corrupt politicians who are just as bad as they are don’t want to lose any votes from criminals so they wont change anything. And 3 year old Agustin will still be dead.
When we talk about survival and specifically armed self-defense the idea of killing is glorified as a transcendent event. Experts debate about people being able to pull the trigger or not and being able to live with taking another life. Those experts never lived in Lomas de Zamora. How I wish someone had shot those two scumbags. I’m sure the family of Agustin wishes so too. There’s no remorse in killing these beasts because they aren’t even people, they are worse than savage animals. This is why killing one of these bastards isn’t a solemn event but a celebration, a service to society.  One less animal out there to murder, rape and destroy lives.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”

Food Rationing: Only one pack of sugar per family permitted.

I was going through some of my old photos, found this one from back in Argentina when there was shortage and rationing of certain staples in stores.
1 kg of sugar per family group. 1 unit.  And it cost almost the equivalent of 2 USD back in the day. For a country in which the average person was making well under 500 USD that was insane.
It’s amazing how close we came to ending up like Venezuela, in a country that produces food to feed ten time its own population.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”

Relocating: Moving to Argentina 2017?

Message:
Hey Fernando, I'm sure you get a lot of these so here's another one... expat moving to Argentina haha more specifically Buenos Aires.
I'm 28 years old now and my travels to Argentina began in May 2014. I was down on life, bored and wasn't living at all. All I did was work, wake up and work. The weekend would come by, I would relax and Monday the routine started all over again.
Being kind of young I was so I don't know... depressed perhaps with my way of living. I live near NYC by the way. As you get older, people you knew you don't ever see again and the close friends you have you may still talk to but rarely get to see. Everyone has their responsibilities now and I also realized another thing... the american dream.
Buying a home. $350,000 minimum where I live and then work until my 50s until the debt is paid off and keep working. It sounds more like an american nightmare to me. Paying to live where I'm not happy and being in over a quarter million of debt.
Me being the loner that I once was I would spend alot of my time online just chatting with people on cam sites. I found one where alot of Argentinians would go on and I would cam
with them and exchange facebooks and whatsapp. Eventually my facebook got filled with Argentinian girls that I would speak to. My spanish was horrible at the time by the way, even though I am from spanish decent I was more gringo than anything else. I told myself, wouldn't it be cool to meet these people in person? I mean like we've been chatting for almost a year now and I know a couple of people in different locations so why not travel? All these ideas were popping up in my head and I couldn't get rid of them.
The whole idea just seemed crazy but crazy good. Meeting people I never met before in person, going to a country I never been to before and not have travelled anywhere out of country in over 10 years... maybe I had to be crazy.
But the adrenaline rush kicked in and I said Derrick... go for it. What do I have to lose? I wasn't having fun over here regardless so why not try something different? I knew once I confirmed that flight payment there was no turning back and I sure enough went through with it and booked my flight for May 2014. May came, the flight took off, landed the next day on Friday and from Ezeiza I went straight to Laferrere where my first friend was haha Now was I shocked? No. I obviously saw that it was a poor community but I thought this was what it was when I first arrived. I did not know Laferrere was considered "poor" or "dangerous" I just went to go see my friend in a country I never been to before, so I humbled myself and accepted the fact that I won't see what I am used to seeing here in New York and thought Laferrere was normal.
To cut that the trip short let's just say I had one of the most wonderful experiences of my life that impacted me forever. I cried, I laughed, I drank and I actually for after a long time started to feel like I was alive and I never met people that were so humble. I would walk down the street and randomn people would say hello to me as they pass me by. They are so family oriented and do live what we consider in the north "poor" but they were so rich in life and didn't just work and go home to sleep. There was so much culture. I said to myself I was going to come back and I kept that promise.
Fast forward and it is now Janurary 2015, the flight took off and this time you would think I would prepare myself a little bit better...
I didn't. I came again and was looking for an apartment the day I landed which I was then at Pablo Nogues, Malvinas. My friends father was able to find me a place at his friends house, where I stayed for the week and on this trip I had an allergic reaction to something that gave me rashes all around my thighs, legs and arms. I winded up going to the Malvinas Hospital in Pablo Nogues, where I was treated free of charge, and I was even interviewed and shown on the TV for my treatment ! First Norte Americano treated at Malvinas Argentinta Hospital. It was more of a propaganda for the then running for Mayor Jesus Cariglino but it was still a wow experience. I was aired on national Argentine TV!!! haha
I've been really grateful to cross paths with some of the most humble people on my journeys. Let's fast forward to now Janurary 2016, did I prepare myself this time? I sure did with a whole quinta all to myself en Santa Maria de Los Olivos, Pablo Nogues. It was a huge home, bigger than anything around here where I live. 2 floors, 5 bathrooms, 4 bedroom. In-ground pool outside and it was just wow. I spoiled myself. I loved the home but the the gated community life wasn't for me. Everyone who visited had to check in with the guard, there were no surprises, people would get lost trying to find the home within the gated community and even myself got lost many times. It would literally take 5 minutes of driving to get to the home once you were in. I felt far away from everybody. I couldn't just get out of the house and be outside, I would take my bike and travel out the country and around Pablo Nogues.I even met new friends on this trip en La Plata with my bike. Again it was a great experience and I wanted more.
Fast forward now to February 2017 and this time I rented myself a Toyota Corolla, which over here in the states is like an economical poor man's car. I had to pay 1200 USD to rent the damn thing for 10 days. I didn't like the car at all but the other ones they had to offer were weird looking and they wanted 4000 USD for the BMW serie 3 which is ridiculous.
So I stuck with the Corolla and had rented an apartment I had found on Mercado Libre in San Isidro, Buenos Aires. I had come across this town on my last travel and it was a beautiful city. Everything was paved, great for bike riding, people were out enjoying the sunshine and it was a nice community. So I wanted to try here for my next vacation which I did. I came to the conclusion that this is where I want to be in my life.
Being 28 years old I finally said, I found home. This is where I want to grow, be stable and one day have a family. I found my happiness and an amazing culture. I found Damas Gratis too haha I loved all my trips to this beautiful country. I didn't arrive as a tourist per say.
Every one of my trips I was out in the barrios, Laferrere, Jose C Paz, Pilar, Gonzalez Catan, Pablo Nogues, La Plata. I actually never been to the capital until my third trip out. I didn't care for the big buildings and nice things. The people I met had plenty to offer in their barrios and I loved it all. I never even had a hamburger with fried egg on it until I came to Argentina. It was the best thing ever! I now make it over here lol I'm telling you Argentina is awesome.
Yes the government may be corrupt, in bad shape and the economy may be suffering a bit but it is not as bad as over here. At least people in Argentina are free. They have more liberty than we do here in the United States. I actually hate this government. I hate how we cause wars all over the world. I hate how we have to be the global police for anything that happens outside of this country. I hate how we have so many regulations, laws and rules and police for all this security that is over more than enough.
Oh and I hate how we have only 7 official holidays over here and I myself only have 1 week vacation for a large company that I have been with for three years. We work ourselves to death over here. Other people may say well that's how it is, well no. Not for me. Argentina is where I'm going. I'm tired of the wars and rumors of wars, tired of all these movement groups, tired of the goverment lies and the attack on the people, tired of this gender identity issue they are raising in the schools. My child does not have to decide weather he is a girl or a boy, he/she will be born what he/she was born as. I don't understand why these schools have to have gender identity classes. This whole country I just find evil.
Overall I find that Argentinian people know how to live. They help one another, are family oriented people and like to live more than work. I'm going to be moving to Buenos Aires soon within a few months and will be transfering my money with Bitcoin.
I'm working long hours and as much as I can to reach a goal of 100,000 USD but I may not reach it in time which is before the winter. That's another thing I hate about being where I live. I hate the snow. I don't like it at all. I even hate looking at it lol
Cold weather is not for me. The hotter the better. I don't think moving to Argentina is a bad idea as I saw in your video,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7wx5sUNBo0
It's not for everybody of course but if you like the simple lifestyle and are a humble person than you can live here. I don't need much. I should be able to find work as an air conditioning/refrigeration technician and that's how I will live. Its been 4 years now since you made that video about relocating to Argentina. What are your thoughts now Fernando?
I've been looking for a place to rent and have been searching around Tigre, San Fernan, Lopez, even San Miguel isn't too bad.
I'm not sure where your 5000USD figure a month comes from but what I've found on Mercado Libre I can pay around 600 dollars a month for rent, and probably less if I can get the locals to help me out. I'm not looking to live like a king but just looking to live.
Hope I didn't take too much of your time with reading! God Bless!
Take care of yourself out there.
-Derrick
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Hello Derrick, thanks for your email and for sharing your story.
You know, a few years ago I would have told you you’re crazy, get psychological help and don’t move to Argentina by any means.
Today, a few years older and a bit wiser, I will say to you that if you found home and you feel Argentina is the place for you then follow that dream because life is too short to do otherwise.
People in Argentina are friendly and as you notice family oriented. We like having friends over, we enjoy talking for hours among friends and family. There’s no lunch or dinner schedule. A friend drops by one afternoon and he stays drinking mate the entire afternoon. By the time you realize its night time he stays over for dinner and crashes in the couch. I wont lie to you, I do miss that, I miss the passion people have over there which isn’t as common elsewhere. My neighbour in Ireland, when I moved there I was chatting with him and he didn’t know the name of the woman living next to him that had been living there for at least 30 years. I told him “oh, so you moved here recently too?”. “No” he said, “I’ve been living here for 20 years”. 20 years and he didn’t know the name of the woman living next door. I later found that’s rather common.
But as much as I miss my country it still is what it is and the reason why I left, crime and insecurity, are very much an issue and even worse than before I left, which was pretty bad already. For me, the risk of one day getting my wife or children hurt was just too much. Even just living with that tension all the time, it was driving me nuts.
You seem to not bothered much by that and usually I’d say being chill is best, but in Argentina the danger is very real. Too real. Statistically you’ll be a victim of a violent crime in a couple years in Argentina.
Laferrere is a TOUGH place. Even for Argentine standards. I can imagine the shock coming from USA. That doesn’t mean you cant find fantastic people there. On the contrary, its usually people that have very little the ones that appreciate others things, make great friends. But especially in places like those security is a matter of daily survival.
5000USD is at the very least what I would need to have the same lifestyle I have in Europe in Argentina. A nice house, good schools, which in Argentina means private schools for two kids, and good medical care such as Swiss Medical which was the one I had (and recommend). Security wise if I had to go back to Argentina I’d move to a “country”, a gated community for security purposes. I don’t like being locked up either but theres a reason why there are so many of those gated communities in the first place. Many of these are things you don’t need as a single guy, but with a family they are an issue.
The one very important thing that HAS changed in Argentina is the politics. Mauricio Macri is now president and with a bit of luck the populist communist scum wont come back any time soon. It will take a lot of time though until Macri sorts the country.
Best of luck in Argentina, I wish you the best!
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”

Stocks During the Economic Collapse of Argentina?

Dear Ferfal,
I think I’ve read every blog post you’ve ever written. Long time fan. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and wisdom with everyone.
The Dow Jones just hit 20,000! I have a question about what the stock market is like when TSHTF. Like most Americans, I “own” stocks through my retirement plan. If inflation goes really high, is a stock like a gold ring that doesn’t have value until you sell it (and therefore increases with inflation), or will stocks kind of stay the same price, and therefore lose tremendous value? What happened in Argentina?
And I want to say that you have actually changed my life. I live in a very safe place, the kind of place where people still can leave their front door unlocked. Which I sometimes do when I go next door (on the other side of the porch), but I’ve made it a habit to always lock the door behind me when I come inside. If I come home and someone is inside, I can run away. But nobody’s coming in when I’m home unless I let them in (not too many ways out except the front door). Anyway, I think it’s a good habit, and I think I’m better prepared for what’s coming thanks to you.
Best Wishes,
-Adam
...
Hello Adam,
Thanks for being a long time reader. I’m glad to know I helped make your life a bit safer! These are all little things we do, habits and strategies that start building up as our mindset changes.
I see survivalism, at least the practical version of it that I call modern survivalism, as a lifestyle in which practical decisions are made keeping in mind the best possible outcome in a worst case scenario. Sounds paranoid but it’s not. If doing one thing instead of another improves my odds and quality of life (better, safer, more peace of mind) then it is the one that provides the most strategic advantages from a tactical point of view. From the items in your EDC, the clothes you wear, the car you drive and the place where you live.
Regarding the stock market in Argentina during the crisis, here yet again we see that common assumptions and what actually ends up happening during an economic collapse have little in common.
Of course, the stock market has collapsed in the past and such a possibility is something to keep in mind, but we must remember than these situations are pretty complex, both in causes and effect. It is crucial to fully understand the former to correctly predict the latter.
Here is where we must ask ourselves, what caused the collapse in the first place? In the case of Argentina it was a bank run followed by a devaluation. The knowledge of an impending devaluation and rumours of accounts being frozen obviously triggered such bank run. If the same had happened for example with stocks, rumours of a bubble, followed by sharp sales and loss of value the story would have been different. The chart below reflects the Merval, the most important index of the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange.

We clearly see a big drop as expected at the time of the economic collapse in December 2001, but then as time goes by it starts going up, even as the Peso goes down, why? Well, the price is now in Pesos no longer pegged to the dollar, but even more important is that stocks represented something physical to own, a part of a company (even a struggling one!). Even if people suffered it often occurred that companies did well eventually. The common saying in Argentina years after the crisis about “its great that the economy is doing much better. Too bad we don’t get to see any of it” reflects just that. With a 25% inflation per year anything that held its value was better than the Peso. Real estate, US Dollars and yes also stocks.
I would say that looking at it from a historical perspective, good time-proven stocks tend to do well on the long run. High risk ones are more of a question mark. It sure isn’t a chunk of gold or silver in your hand, but the chances of it being worth only the paper they are printed on and the company going belly up isnt as high if you invest wisely. As always, don’t keep all your eggs in one basket and so on.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.

Are you truly living or are you merely surviving?

This is a question I used to ask myself a lot when living (or should I say surviving) in Argentina.
I knew the answer well enough. I was surviving in Argentina and I did not like it. That’s why we left after all. Since then I can say we’ve been living life. It’s been a great life with my fantastic wife and kids. We live every day to the fullest and look forward to the next one. In many ways we’ve been making up for lost time. Every day I try to do right, do what I like and live it as the precious moment that it is. For all the talk about the snowflake generation, I do treat each day, each moment as one. As something that is unique, special, will last just a moment and I’ll never get back. Let me tell you, it’s a great way to live your life. If you do it you’ll look back and regret nothing.

What does it mean to “merely survive”? It means to just be alive but not do much living other than that. In our case the clear limiting factor was crime. Every time you left your home you felt exposed and you did because you actually were. You would walk around always looking around, you looking for threats. Even in crowded places you needed to be careful with pick pockets or snatchers grabbing your backpack, briefcase or in the case of women their purses. I’ve seen men get mugged, at gun point, at the train station in the middle of rush hour. The platform packed full of people and the robber sticking a gun to the guy’s face. It could truly happen anywhere at any time and it happened a lot, all around you. After we left Argentina, the thing that amazed us the most was that, security. The ability to go out for a long walk, pretty much anywhere we want and not fear getting attacked. Sleeping at night knowing that even is some noise wakes you up, chances are its not four or five guys trying to break in.
Crime limited you in other ways too. It dictates where you can live. Gated communities and apartments in safe buildings are fine, a more isolated house in the outskirts of town is not. When buying a new car, try not buying one that is too expensive or looks too good or you’ll get carjacked over it. A guy that I knew bought himself a fancy car and had it armoured so as to be able to enjoy it. A week later he was carjacked when getting in, robbed at gunpoint.
What can you do about this? The choice is either do something about it (try to avoid being a victim) or go into denial. I’d say 90% of people chose denial.

The other factor was of course economic. No matter how much money you made 25% inflation meant you couldn’t save up money at all. You had to spend it right away. With that kind of economic instability you can’t plan for anything beyond a couple weeks, let alone a few years.

Here is where I suppose a lot of people may feel represented. Not because of inflation but because of money being tight and living month to month with nothing left in between. That isn’t much of an enjoyable life either. Worrying about an unexpected expense, an accident or illness ruining you financially. Never taking vacations, always living on a strict budget.  In my case I felt as if my life was on hold, as if someone had pressed the “pause” button in my life. What kept us going was the hope that soon enough we’d get to live for real. Be free to go out for a walk without worrying about getting mugged. Get to travel without the fear of our home getting picked clean while we were away. Get to dress anyway we wanted without worrying about having something on us that was of certain brands or worth a bit too much and it being too much of a temptation for a would-be robber. I mean, my wife and I, we ended up replacing our gold wedding bands for silver ones. It was common practice to avoid getting mugged. I still remember the day after we left that we got to wear them again.

When certain “preppers” talk about looking forward to SHTF, because they’ll do great while all the liberals die off, they have no idea what they’re talking about. Surviving sucks folks. It’s the living part that’s fun. Merely surviving sucks but it’s much better than being dead, most of all because it means there’s still chance you may end up living again one day.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.

Serious Survival: How much food should you stockpile?

It seems that for every blogger or forum member there’s a survival expert as well. That’s great because there’s such wealth of information and you can learn from different experiences and accounts.
Then again the downside… every blogger and member thinks he’s an expert.
You see, for realistic survival and preparedness it’s crucial to differentiate the “I think” and “I believe” from the “this is how it went down” “this is why”.
We all know that food is essential for survival. No food and you won’t last long. Same goes for water (and I see it overlooked more often). Keep in mind that while a day without food may suck a bit, but a day without water will be tough indeed. In certain warm climates it can be downright dangerous.
We all get how important food and water is, but then there’s the classic survival question: How much food should you have stored for emergencies?
Doomers say you need years worth of food. Decades even. After all you die if you don’t eat. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) are famous for their year worth of food approach, although many have far less than that.
Officially speaking, what would a real expert recommend? Ready.gov says to have 3 days worth of shelf stable food and bottled water. That may seem as very little but in general most emergencies are either resolved within that time frame or help becomes available. Still, tell this to anyone that spent a week or more snowed in during a storm and he’ll find it lacking.
So how much? A Week? A Month? A year?
The first piece of advice is one you’ve probably heard before and that it is to store what you eat. If your kids don’t even know what rice looks like then having buckets full of the stuff isnt that much of a good idea. Either store something else or actually start eating rice.
There’s two very important reasons for this.
First, if you don’t rotate your food supply it just becomes one of those “just in case” things, and you’ll find yourself throwing food away every few years. This makes keeping large quantities of food stored a great waste of money. Second, if you store what you eat there wont be any difference between emergencies and “normal” times, at least food wise.
In our home we love rice and lentils and prepare rice and lentils stews often. Its tasty, very healthy, stores well for years and its pretty affordable too. Some canned tomato and vegetables and you have all you need for a great nutritional meal.
Another important point is understanding how much calories you actually need. The standard reply here is 2000 calories. Sure, if trekking the north pole you’ll need 5000 instead but even if some manual labour may be needed during disasters there’s people that stay healthy AND active with a lower caloric diet. 2000 will do well enough.

OK ... SO HOW MUCH DO I NEED?
The 3 day recommendation by ready.gov is based on a rather optimistic government recommendation. If they have said instead to have 7 days immediately people would be wondering “Wait, so you’ll let me hang there for an entire week?!” People don’t react well to uncertainty and avoiding panic is a government’s #1 priority. Two weeks worth of groceries is just common sense. It doesn’t put a significant dent in your wallet if done correctly, and yes, it is true that it will cover 99% of the disasters and emergencies you’re likely to face in your lifetime.
I already imagine people thinking “but I want to be ready for SHTF, a worst case scenario, the real end of the world stuff!”.
OK, lets do that. Lets say it’s a worst case, total SHTF scenario. But lets keep it real and look how does it actually play out in the real world rather than fantasize about it.

Lets say you have 2 years, no, 10 years worth of food. Lets say you have that plus means of producing more, a fully working farm.
Now lets suppose you have your ten year supply of food, plus a farm, plus a pile of guns and ammo… and you’re sitting in Eastern Ukraine when the Russian troops roll in. Or Aleppo when they are levelling every structure around you with barrel bombs. Or in South Africa when white farmers were exterminated and kicked out of their homes. Or in Fukushima when the tsunami destroyed everything and the radiation scorched the land. Do you see a trend here? More food, or a bigger farm would have done you no good. In all of these sometimes like more cash or gold to take along with you when you bug out or even better money in an offshore account would have been far more useful.
“But… I want the end of the world to be more convenient…”
Ok, what about Venezuela? You have out of control inflation, out of control crime and poverty with people starving. Even farmers starve there(posted about just this a few weeks ago), just like Irish farmers starved during the genocide known as the Great Famine or Ukranian farmers died during Holodomor, reduced to cannibalism. Yes, sometimes its natural disasters, but in others its lack of means of production, and an authoritarian government ensure that people starve in spite of having land and the knowledge to work it.
In my experience after the collapse of Argentina’s economy I would say it was somewhat similar to Venezuela during the times of Chavez. By this I mean horrible inflation, but not reaching the levels of food poverty seen today in Venezuela. Food was available, just two or three times more expensive than before. Just imagine how you would deal with such a scenario if you woke up to it tomorrow. Indeed, we all wished we had more food stocked up, and we rushed to buy more right away desperately trying to beat the nonstop inflation. I sure kept several months worth of food stockpiled. But still, at the end of the day if you had money you ate.
I stayed for over a decade after the collapse of 2001. In retrospective I probably should have left sooner. Personal circumstances, heck, life I guess, made us delay our departure. Still, we always had the resources to leave ASAP if needed. This is more than what most people in Venezuela can say.

In such a complex situation would a 10 year supply of food, or a farm, made much of a difference? Not really. The food would have been nice, but the money to buy it was just as good besides having a conservative stockpile. A farm? Maybe more of an anchor to the country at a time when leaving was the clear path. A farm in a place like Venezuela, where you cant sell it, or if you do you don’t get anything for it, really does you no good.
So, start with a couple weeks worth of stockpiled food. Work towards a month. Then 6 when you can afford it and have the room for it. 6 to 12 months is the maximum I would recommend, with 6 months being the most realistic objective for most people. Six months of food gives you plenty of time for things such as unemployment, family problems. 12 months helps greatly when dealing with inflated prices, food shortages, and overall instability in the country where you maybe spent several months maybe saving money and looking for a job abroad, for a way out of the country entirely.
The lesson being, If you need more than 12 months worth of food, then more food will do you no good because what you really need is to get the hell out of there!
Take care folks,
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.

Home Invasion: 13 year old vs Armed Gang

Home invasion in Moreno, Buneos Aires leaves one dead.
The typical Argentine nightmare: Mom arrives home and a gang of criminals force their way in. At least 5 men, wearing body armor labelled “Police” and armed with SMG, shotguns and .45 pistols. They start beating the mom and her son, 11 year old Nicolas. The other son, 13 year old Lucas, is inside the house in one of the bedrooms. He sees that that they start beating his mom and little brother, asking where the money is. Lucas gets dad’s 9mm, with a round in the chamber, takes aim from the hallway and opens fire. Lucas shot one of the criminals twice in the armpit, killing him instantly. The rest of the gang escapes. One of them opens fire with a .45, the ricochet of one of the rounds wounding the younger child in the head but only cuts the scalp, doesn’t go through.
Now, the nightmare of this family just beings. Lucas doesn’t fully understand what he did, he’s receiving psychological support. The entire family is scared, worried about payback from the gang. It’s the 3rd time the family suffers a home invasion. They now have to sell the house and move to another town, maybe out of the province.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.

Valuable Alternative Currency in Argentina

Hello Ferfal, read your first book.  Fantastic!  Mucho Gracias.  Hope you and family are well and good.
Am reading some stuff by another author, Bonner.  He writes, talking about the economic crisis in your country in 2001,
"Argentines found themselves using radically different new forms of money. And the interesting part is that they weren’t rare gems or coins.  I'll tell you what their number one currency became, and it wasn't cash.
For example, this one small item you can buy at Walmart, or almost any department store, that during a crisis becomes an incredibly valuable currency for everyday goods. You may even have some in your home already."
What do you think of this?  Hype or true?  Asking you, what WAS your number 1 and 2 currency right after the big crisis in 2001?
What do you think he's talking about, the small item you can buy at Walmart?
Interesting stuff.  He thinks the same Crash is coming to Amerika and you won't be able to get cash from the bank, etc.
I read your blogs all the time now.  You can publish this if you like.
Thanks and be well, be safe.
-Roy

Hello,
Thanks for your email. I’m glad you enjoyed my book "The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse". In it I explain how things went down and what worked (and didn’t) when the economy collapsed in my country.
For those that haven’t read it, and answering your questions:

1)During and after the December 2001 Economic Collapse the currency was and still is the Argentine Peso. The only problem is that it devaluated greatly all of a sudden. Before the collapse, it was artificially pegged to the US dollar at a 1:1 rate. One peso, one dollar. Of course this was impossible to sustain and very hard on the national industry. After the collapse it quickly devaluated, first to 1.4, then 2 and finally 3 pesos for 1 USD in just a matter of days. This means that in a few days the national currency lost 2/3 of its value. Today, the exchange rate is about 1:15. Whats important to understand for the average Joe, is that during those first few days suffering a devaluation of nearly 70% it means that everything becomes 70% more expensive. Keep in mind that the national industry had been all but destroyed and replaced with imports, imports that had to be paid in USD… Try closing your eyes for a second and imagine what life would be like if everything was 3x more expensive, if you had to live with 1/3 of your current wage. How would you cope? Just imagining it for a few minutes will give you a headache. Actually going through it is a living nightmare.

2)In spite of the devaluation de Argentine Peso remained the official currency and by all means the one used the most. I’m not familiar with the author you mention but I just have to disagree with this part “Argentines found themselves using radically different new forms of money.” As I said, the Argentine Peso remained the official and most used currency. The only other currency used pretty often was the USD, which was of course highly regarded because it kept its value as the Peso lost it. If you had stashed say 10.000 USD before the devaluation, you still had 10.000 USD, which was now worth 30.000 Argentine Pesos, but if you had those same 10K in pesos you just lost a lot of money. As devaluation went on day after day, the USD became of course more highly regarded and sought after.

3)The only other form of “money” I can think of was the coupons used in barter clubs which I describe in my book. These were nothing more than cheaply printed notes to be used in the different barter clubs. They never came close to replacing the Peso as currency and were always only good within its own barter club, therefore of limited acceptance. You have to understand that unemployment was spiralling out of control. People had nothing, not even devaluated pesos. For someone that had nothing and was looking to trade a skill, service or good, the barter coupon offers some degree of hope, a way of procuring other needed goods or services. In spite of this, the peso was much preferred over coupons.

4) The Argentine Peso, the USD as a safe haven and as a last resort for unemployed, desperate people, coupons used in barter clubs. These where the only currencies used. Gold and silver did keep their value of course, but it was never used as an alternative currency even if having you savings out of the bank in precious metals would have been a life saver at the time. In all honesty having it in USD cash would have been the best choice, given that when selling PM you usually lose much more money given premiums, etc.
But let me makes this absolutely clear: There was no object, nothing you can buy in any Walmart that was ever used in Argentina as “currency” during that time. Not matches, lighters, canned food, none of the common barter fantasy stuff. If you had the crystal ball or the time machine what you did was go back in time, get your money out of the bank in USD cash. That was the ideal thing to do. If USA ever finds itself in such a situation, then naturally the USD would NOT be a safe haven therefore in that case you would travel in your time machine, get all your money out of the bank and buy precious metals before the USD collapses.

5) “What do you think he's talking about, the small item you can buy at Walmart?” I honestly don’t know. All I know is that no small item was used in place of the Peso or USD. Those two where the only forms of currency widely accepted, with the USD being the most prized one given the constant devaluation of the peso. No small item sold in Walmart was ever used as currency and most definitely not “incredibly valuable currency for everyday goods”. It does sound like one of those marketing gimmicks where you are given some cool guy tip that blows your mind if you buy whatever product is being sold or if you sign up for something, sometimes just to get your email. Again, no common use product was even close to being an alternative currency in any way in Argentina during that time and years after that.
My only advice in this regard is that if you want to prepare for an Argentine-like event in USA is to first have at least a months worth of expenses in cash, USD, and then have whatever you want to protect from devaluation in precious metals which simply wont be touched by the devaluation of the Federal Reserve notes.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.

Coup d’état in Argentina likely?: Yes

Hello Fernando:
I have read your work for quite some time. You have given me a lot of ideas over the past couple years on my attempt to go “Galt” and I thank you.
You are the only person at the moment that I could think of to answer a really bizarre question, is Argentina in the midst of a coup?
Background:
My wife’s family is from Argentina. She has an aunt visiting from B.A. who phoned home to check on the dog and a neighbour told her that there was a possible coup taking place…..
I have not seen or heard anything anywhere, but then again propaganda being what it is today….what would one expect?
I understand this email is coming from out of nowhere, and completely understand if you wish to ignore it. But if you are able to confirm or deny you will keep my wife’s aunt from life support ( and me supporting her for the rest of my life). Please – no need to publish any of this in your blog. —- unless you think it fits a discussion/narrative on propaganda.
Cheers.
Edward
.
Hello Edward,
Thanks for your email. Actually, yes, your question is pretty accurate.
Coups aren’t that rare in Argentina. A coup d’état literally mean “blow of state”. In December 2001, it is well known that while the social agitation was very real and people were indeed angry, Peronist leaders were the ones that gave the situation that extra push. President Fernando de la Rúa sure lacked the political skills to keep the country under control but the various Peronist governors and leaders across Buenos Aires were the ones that allowed the looting to get out of control forcing the president to resign.
It’s actually the same populist and nationalist politicians which are attempting the same thing now, most of them aligned with the previous Kirchner government. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to never EVER give up reason, logic and sensible debate to extremist nationalist and populist ideas no matter how good they may seem to some. You cannot expect anything good to come out of someone you already know is corrupt and lacks any kind of moral compass.
Right now we have Mauricio Macri for president. In spite of his flaws, he’s by far the best president we’ve had since the return of democracy after the last military junta.
Your aunt’s neighbour is right. They are trying to get rid of him. They will try to either kill him or overthrow him. The thing is, killing him would leave his sidekick vice president Gabriela Michetti in charge, and she would continue his work. Now if they manage to overthrow him along with his entire political party and everyone associated to it, then the corrupt Peronists can take control of the country again. The main objective here is pretty simple. It’s a matter of survival. Former president Cristina Kirchner is against the ropes. Every day a new offshore account is found, another of her dogs is caught with gym bags full of cash, even her daughter was caught with 9 millions USD in cash in a safe deposit box. We’re talking billions of dollars here that she stole through different channels. Every day she’s closer to going to jail. There’s even accusations of treason given her dealings with Iran. If she doesn’t manage to overthrow Macri she will go to jail along with her two children and accomplices. This is no secret though and most main media groups in the country are already connecting the dots and showing how indeed there is a deliberate plan to create instability among the population and question the legitimacy of the government. I doubt they will be successful, mostly because the cat is out of the bag and the population knows this. They know what they are trying to do. Still, the may manage to do it if the government doesn’t stop the operation against them in time. December is usually the hottest month in Argentina, both weather and political wise. Most episodes of political violence occur during the summer holyday of November and December.
Who knows. All I know is that I cant wait to see the Kirchners and their accomplices rotting in jail.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.

My thoughts on Dave Ramsey

Ferfal,
Good Afternoon what are your thoughts on Dave Ramsey's plan for
getting out of debt as a preparation for Economic problems? Are you
familiar with it? I've never heard you mention him, albeit you
certainly talk about having cash saved up. I think if everyone had
their debt paid off the extra income would certainly help absorb some
inflation. Give options anyway.
-A
.

I very much like Dave Ramsey and recommend his book “The Total Money Makeover”. I like how he recommends staying out of debt, having a tight budget and living below your means. His advice regarding not buying new cars or taking leases is spot on. Buy your car cash. If you can’t, you certainly shouldn’t go into debt for it.
The only point I don’t agree with him is gold.
Dave calls gold a “lousy” investment and mentions the poor returns compared to other investments. That much is true, gold is a lousy investment but that’s because gold isn’t an investment at all. Gold is a commodity. Investments generate money for you, think interests or a property you put up for rent. Buying and selling gold won’t make you much money. You’re more likely to lose some given premiums and shipping. But for an economic collapse? Oh yes, that’s different. When something terrible happens and the dollar, Euro or whatever fiat currency starts devaluating at double digit rate per week, gold will hold its own and then some. In reality it’s just keeping its true value, plus the higher than normal premium due to market interest as an economic shelter.
At one point Dave says that a pair of blue jeans or a tank of gas are “very valuable”, but not gold coins and that canned soup “would have been a better hedged against a failed economy”. As someone that actually went through an economic collapse and has studied failed economies elsewhere around the world for years, I can tell you this just isn’t true. I’ve haggled and bought two pairs of very nice jeans at a black market in Buenos Aires for a fraction of the cost of a similar quality pair in USA or Europe. After the collapse, the business of buying and selling gold went up 500% in Argentina. Gold became so valuable it became a premium target for pickpockets and burglars, so much that its still just impossible to go around town with any visible gold jewellery.
Gold is not an investment. It is a commodity considered valuable throughout history, which goes up and down in price but overall remains a globally recognized form of wealth.
Besides, as someone that dealt with an economic collapse first hand I can assure you is that you can’t grab any other asset or investment, throw it in your pocket and make a run for the airport while the country falls apart around you.
Then again, this is why you take advice regarding economic collapse from me rather than Dave Ramsey! ;-)
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.

Surviving The Economic Collapse‏ Book: Changing your Mindset

I just finished reading your book. I learned so many things from your 1st hand experience in Argentina. I personally have been making plans for events that could occur here in another financially prosperous nation, the USA. There are so many things I could mention, but today I was driving to the store and I allowed myself to get box in with no way to escape if some emergency occurred. I guess the biggest thing I can say is that my whole mindset has changed. I am responsible for me and my families safety. I read your book to learn about how to approach this problem from a financial perspective, yet you opened the door to a whole bunch of other aspects that I had not even though of. Thank You. I have not read a book and thought that this author might some day be responsible for saving my families life. For this I am eternally grateful.
-Douglas
.
Thank you for your email Douglas!
It makes my day to know I helped someone to develop a more acute mindset. Achieving a greater level of perception of events around us and in general a more critical and analytic view of the world is an important part of what I wanted to transmit with my book. There are of course skills that need to be developed but in my experience it is just this, that higher state of awareness, that keeps you away from trouble and more often than not keeps you safe. I am of course talking here about imminent physical threats, but beyond that other risks such as scams and frauds, which today are common everywhere around the world.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.

Q&A about moving to Buenos Aires, Argentina

Mr. Aguirre,
I will be moving to Buenos Aires in June. I have some questions that you may be able to answer. Google has given me some info but it's never as good as info from people such as yourself.
-J
Hello J,
I get similar questions pretty often. This is surprising given that I’ve literally written for years about how bad the situation was and still is in Argentina. Still, people have their reasons. So, if others have similar questions here it goes:

1. I will be living near the city center. Can you give me an idea as to what areas I should avoid?

All of them except these ones. Try sticking to either the city center or northern part of the city. Palermo, Recoleta, Belgrano, Las Cañitas, these are ok although nowhere is really safe in Argentina so stay alert. Avoid entirely the western and southern suburbs of Buenos Aires if possible. They are particularly dangerous although again, there’s crime everywhere.

2. Are there any recommendations for transportation? Any I should avoid?

The subway is pretty good in Buenos Aires, but in general I move around with remis (sort of like Uber) from this company.  http://www.rcremis.com.ar/inicio.php. Write their number down and add it to your contacts. They are safe, reliable, fast and affordable. You don’t get all of that very often in Argentina. Avoid taxis though, in general they will rip you off.

3. Are there regulations on knife carry?

They are considered weapons and will get you in extra trouble if you use them in crimes, but for law abiding citizens there’s not specific restricting legislation enforced. So get a knife and OC Spray (also legal) as soon as you land.

4. Are there any like minded(self defense, knife/gun culture) people that you would recommend I contact or possibly put me in contact with?

I would recommend going to one of the shooting clubs, either Tiro Federal Argentino or Tiro Federal Lomas. Take a class or two with Jorge Baigorria (http://jorgebaigorria.com/) You’ll learn a lot and get to meet those “like-minded people”.

5. Any other suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thank you sir,
Jacob
Just stay safe, keep your guard up and enjoy the stay. I always talk about the bad stuff about living in Argentina but it is a country with great potential and people are fantastic.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.

Argentina has a new President: Mauricio Macri.

There's Hope for Argentina!

President Mauricio Macri and Governor of Buenos Aires, Maria Eugenia Vidal
I barely dared to hope. Just barely. I had seen so many times my beloved country go down the toilet during elections, consumed by corruption, ignorance and populist ideology.
Yesterday something changed in Argentina. Mauricio Macri is now president of Argentina. Macri is the product of the 2001 crisis, starting his political party in 2003 and winning the mayoral elections of the City of Buenos Aires in 2007 where he did a great job. He ran the government of the city of Buenos Aires with professionalism, free of favouritism and corruption with clear goals for the city which he mostly achieved. Mauricio Macri can be described as a center-right conservative, known for building skilled teams around him and solving problems in a methodical way, probably due to his background in civil engineering.
As great as this is, the damage done to Argentina is still considerable an years, maybe a decade or more will pass before it becomes a nation with standards of living similar to the ones found in developed nations. The horrible crime problem, even the corruption and economic instability, you don’t get rid of those overnight. Macri knows a thing or two about being a victim of crime. He spent 13 days in a hole, kidnapped himself.
Still, its great news. There’s hope, and now there’s a president that will work towards fixing things rather than filling his own pockets. A president we can finally be proud of...that is, until he starts dancing…

FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.